How ‘Gaslit’ Turned Fingernails Into the Sounds of Sacrifice
variety.comJazz Tangcay Artisans EditorEmmy-nominated re-recording mixers John W. Cook II and Ben Wilkins layered in 16 different tracks of recording for a key courtroom moment in Starz’s “Gaslit.”The political thriller takes a different look at the Watergate scandal.
Rather than look at the infamous hotel break-in, the show examines the political relationships and the women — particularly Martha Mitchell, played by Julia Roberts.It also looks at John Dean, President Nixon’s White House counsel (played by Dan Stevens), and his wife Maureen “Mo” Dean (Betty Gilpin).In a key moment, John Dean is set to testify before the Senate committee.The scene before shows John almost chickening out of his testimony.
It’s a moment with Mo and the two are sitting outside an office. “He wants to give up and Mo says, ‘You are absolutely not going to give up.
You think this is hard? This is not hard.’ Cook explains that the sound fades and all audiences hear is the sound of Mo’s fingernails clicking against one another as she cleans them and sees blood underneath. “That to us was the sound of sacrifice.” In recreating John’s testimony, the duo worked on layering individual tracks from whispering and murmurs to courtroom audio for the scene to work.
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